Weapon slings allow users to carry and suspend weapon, particularly long guns, such as rifles and shotguns on their bodies. Weapon slings are also useful as shooting aids. A weapon sling affixed to a rifle or shotgun can be manipulated to provide support and stability to the weapon in most shooting positions.
In 1986, Eric S. Ching developed a tactical rifle sling, known as the “Ching” sling, which provides fast acquisition to a supported shooting position that stabilize the user's support arm. The Ching sling consists of a main strap, which is attached to the forearm and buttstock sockets like a normal carry sling, and a short fixed strap, which forms a “shooting” loop. With the user's support arm inserted through the “shooting” loop, the short strap lays flat and firm against the back of the user's support arm, thereby providing support arm stabilization during shooting. While the “Ching” sling facilitates a more stabilized shooting position, the conventional Ching sling cannot be readily adjusted while in use. In many tactical applications, it is advantageous to adjust the length of the “shooting” loop, as well as the length of the overall sling.
The present invention provides a weapon sling that provides a “shoulder carry” loop used for shoulder carrying a weapon and a “shooting” loop used for stabilizing the user's support arm in a “supported” shooting position, which can both be readily lengthened or shortened as desired while in use. The sling uses a three point connection design and includes three interconnected strap members: a front shoulder strap, rear shoulder strap, and a sliding shooting strap. One end of each strap is connected directly to the weapon: one near the distal end of the butt stock, at the front of the hand guard and at the rear of the hand guard immediately in front of the weapon receiver. The free ends of the front and rear shoulder straps are adjustably connected by an adjustable slide, which forms the shoulder carry loop. The free end of the shooting strap is connected to slide along a portion of the length of the front shoulder strap, which forms the shooting loop. The length of both the shoulder carry loop and the support loop can be selectively set to suit any particular user. A user can also adjust the length of the shoulder carrying loop while donning the sling by pulling on the free end of the front shoulder strap, which shortens the shoulder carry loop or by pulling on a pull cord affixed to the adjustment slide, which lengthens the shoulder carry loop.
The above described features and advantages, as well as others, will become more readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.